#GroceriesNotGuns: How supermarkets are influencing
the gun control debate

In the last week, 38 (and counting) retail chains have
adopted new policies to keep guns out of their stores.

by Jesse Hirsch, The New Food Economy

September 12th, 2019

Less than a week after the recent mass shooting that left
22 people dead in an El-Paso, Texas, Walmart, a pro-gun activist wandered into
another Walmart, in Missouri, wearing full body armor. He was carrying an
AR-style assault rifle and 100 rounds of ammunition, and had a semi-automatic
handgun on his hip. He reportedly told authorities that he was testing whether
“his Second Amendment rights would be honored in a public area.” The man,
20-year-old Dmitriy Andreychenko, was surprised that customers seemed upset by
his experiment.

To some observers, perhaps less accustomed to
encountering fully armed civilians at the supermarket, Andreychenko’s stunt
might have seemed beyond brazen. But legally, the licensed gun owner was
entirely within his rights; Missouri is an open-carry state, which means you
are free to bring your gun just about anywhere without a hassle. “This is
Missouri,” Andreychenko reportedly told investigators at the time. “I
understand if we were somewhere else like New York or California, people would
freak out.”

It was Missouri, but it was also a Walmart—the nation’s
largest supermarket chain, selling $184.2 billion in groceries last year (55%
of its annual revenue). The retailer is also a purveyor of guns and ammunition,
and, more recently, a retailer that does not want visibly armed customers in
its stores. In the wake of El Paso and Andreychenko, two employee deaths from a
shooting incident in a Mississippi Walmart, and an armed duel in a Louisiana
Walmart, the company made some high-profile changes to its corporate policies
last Tuesday. In addition to significantly reducing the types of guns and ammo
it sells, the company is “respectfully requesting that customers no longer
openly carry firearms into our stores or Sam’s Clubs in states where ‘open
carry’ is permitted,” according to a statement from CEO Doug McMillon.

Walmart’s appeal was soon followed by a cascade of other
national supermarkets and pharmacies—including Kroger, Wegmans, CVS, Walgreens,
and, most recently, Publix, Aldi and Meijer—in implementing no-open-carry
policies. But will these policies have any substantive impact on reducing
overall gun violence, or on shifting the national dialogue surrounding guns?
It’s a fascinating moment for gun control, when corporate decisions in the
supermarket sector are outpacing legislative decisions on Capitol Hill.

“We’ve got this impasse at the political level, where our
leaders seem paralyzed to pass new gun control laws,” says Shahla Hebets, who
runs an advertising and marketing consultancy for large corporations. “I think
we’re going to see more and more brands step in to do what our politicians
can’t, or won’t.”

***

You’re excused if you’ve never seen a sign in a
restaurant or grocery store, telling you whether or not your guns are welcome.
On a recent visit to Texas, this reporter was bemused to see a sign featured
prominently in Whole Foods, informing customers of its strict no-gun policy. Does
anyone really need a pistol while they compare prices on organic melons? But
for some gun owners, especially those in open-carry states, the answer would be
a resounding “yes.”

“Curious if Walmart will now provide armed security at
all of its stores now that the company has made clear it doesn’t like
individuals who do their duty to carry and do their best to protect themselves.
(the answer is obviously no),” wrote conservative commentator Katie Pavlich, on
Twitter last week.

Pavlich was echoing a common refrain among 2nd-amendment
advocates, that American citizens have a right to defend themselves at all
times, whether they’re picking up a case of Nilla wafers at Costco, grabbing a
Starbucks latte, or sleeping peacefully in their homes. Policies like
Walmart’s, they argue, remove their constitutionally mandated right to
self-defense. Further, they claim that spaces without guns can actually invite
violence from bad actors. Walmart is now a “soft target,” they say, just like
elementary schools.

“Basically you are wearing a neon sign saying, come and
get me because I’m a law abiding citizen and I have no way to protect myself,”
wrote Twitter user Terri Lynn Bedford.

The evidence for this vulnerability being exploited is
spotty at best. Take, for instance, the recent El Paso shooting, where there
were armed customers present in the store, none of whom were able to stop the
shooter. According to Jake Charles, executive director of the Center for
Firearms Law at Duke University, the idea that a good guy with a gun will stop
a bad guy with a gun is more a matter of faith than a provable assertion. “It’s
a classic argument, that criminals will target these vulnerable, gun-free spaces,”
he says. “But data surrounding this concept is hard to decipher and easily
contested.”

Beyond the practicalities of customer self-defense,
Walmart’s corporate decision has also sparked a discussion of values. On
one hand, gun safety advocates like Moms Demand—which ramped up pressure on
Walmart using the social media hashtag #groceriesnotguns—are celebrating these
corporate shifts. On the other hand, some gun owners feel that any anti-gun
message from a brand or retailer is indicative of incompatible values.

“[I]t would certainly seem that the nation’s largest
retailer would prefer gun owners to leave their rights in the car,” wrote the
editor of Concealed Carry magazine. “I’d hate to offend them with either my
presence or my patronage, and I’d far rather spend my money with those who
share my belief in our God-given rights anyway.”

***

Thirty-one states currently allow licensed gun owners to
openly carry firearms without a special permit, while 15 others allow permitted
citizens to do so. Private businesses are allowed to set their own policies,
but that’s not a debate many chains have wanted to engage in.

For a massive retailer like Walmart, there is a certain
calculus that goes into decisions like this. Simply:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' image of the National
Rifle Association, or NRA, has grown more negative in the past year with the
percentage viewing it favorably dropping below 50% for only the second time in
30 years. Roughly equal percentages of U.S. adults now say they have an
unfavorable (49%) opinion of the NRA as say they have a favorable one (48%).
For most of Gallup's 1989-2019 trend, including in 2018, opinions of the NRA
were more positive than negative.

The latest update is based on an August 15-30 Gallup
poll, conducted after mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio
earlier the same month. In addition to the fallout from the mass shootings, the
NRA has also been in the news for internal power struggles that led two top
officials to resign as well as reports of financial trouble for the
organization. Also, last week, the city of San Francisco passed a resolution
naming the NRA a "domestic terrorist organization."

Only once in Gallup's trend have opinions of the NRA been
worse than now. In 1995, 51% had a negative opinion and 42% had a positive
opinion of the group.

The 1995 survey was conducted shortly after the
organization sent out a widely criticized fundraising letter. The letter,
citing the 1994 assault weapons ban, referred to federal agents as
"jack-booted thugs" who were trying to take guns away from citizens.
The reference prompted former President George H.W. Bush to discontinue his
membership in the NRA in protest.

In Gallup's 11 readings on the NRA, an average of 53% have
rated it favorably and 39% unfavorably.

Over the past year, the NRA's favorability has fallen
among Democrats (from 24% to 15%) and independents (52% to 46%), but not among
Republicans (88% to 87%).

The percentage of gun owners expressing positive opinions
of the NRA declined slightly, from 75% to 68%, with little change among
non-owners (39% to 37%).

Personal Protection Primary Reason for Owning Guns

One of the NRA's primary purposes is to promote the
interests of gun owners. The survey finds 32% of Americans reporting they
personally own a gun.

The survey asked gun owners to indicate why they owned a
gun, updating a question last asked in 2013. The motivations today are similar
to what they were then -- with the majority of gun owners, 61%, saying they own
a firearm for protection. One third indicate they own a gun for hunting, while
12% use it for "recreation" or "sport."

The NRA is known for its steadfast defense of the Second
Amendment, which states that the government shall not infringe on citizens'
right to bear arms. Five percent of gun owners cite exercising their Second
Amendment rights as the reason they own a gun. That claim is made by 9% of
Republican gun owners, but less than 1% of Democratic gun owners.

Implications

Every mass shooting in the U.S. brings renewed call for
stronger gun control measures, and typically, resistance to such calls by the
National Rifle Association. With Congress returning to session this week for
the first time since the El Paso and Dayton shootings, gun control advocates
are pushing for legislative action on the issue.

The House of Representatives earlier this year passed a universal
background check bill and are considering additional measures. It is unclear
what, if any, action the Republican-led Senate will take, but a bipartisan
group of senators has been talking with President Donald Trump, who has stated
he is interested in meaningful gun legislation. Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell has deferred to President Trump on the issue, saying he will not
bring up legislation unless the president supports it.

Though the NRA has typically been successful in scuttling
gun control legislation, its attempts to do so at this time come when public
support for the group is the lowest it has been in 20 years.

Two Florida men reportedly pulled out guns and threatened
a McDonald’s employee after being served cold hamburgers.

The encounter allegedly took place around 4 a.m. Monday
at a Palm Coast McDonald’s. Jawan Davis Jr. and Jordon Dunn, both 20, ordered
five hamburgers at the drive-thru. According to The Dayton Beach News-Journal,
Davis felt the hamburgers were cold and demanded the employee remake them.

“I don’t play about my food,” Davis reportedly said.

The pair then brandished weapons and threatened the
employee, according to reports.

The McDonald’s employee allegedly agreed to remake the
order, but went into the back and called the police.

Flagler County deputies arrived on the scene and arrested
the two, who were still in the drive-thru line.

According to the report, officers found a BB gun, an
unloaded handgun and a small bag of marijuana inside the vehicle.